One of the most persistent and troublesome problems arising during modern fabric laundering operations is the tendency of some colored fabrics to release dye into the laundering solutions. The dye is then transferred onto other fabrics being washed therewith.
One way of overcoming this problem would be to bleach the fugitive dyes washed out of dyed fabrics before they have the opportunity to become attached to other articles in the wash.
Suspended or solubilized dyes can to some degree be oxidized in solution by employing known bleaching agents.
GB 2 101 167 describes a stable liquid bleaching composition containing a hydrogen peroxide precursor which is activated to yield hydrogen peroxide on dilution.
However it is important at the same time not to bleach the dyes actually remaining on the fabrics, that is, not to cause color damage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,768 describes a process for inhibiting dye transfer by the use of an oxidizing bleaching agent together with catalytic compounds such as iron porphins.
Yet, the effectiveness of the process tends to be limited particularly in that way that the oxidizing bleaching agent has to be added dropwise in order to obtain the most effective dye transfer inhibition.
The present invention therefore provides an efficient dye transfer inhibiting composition which overcomes this limitation and provides a practical way of controlling a low steady state level of hydrogen peroxide.
The hydrogen peroxide is enzymatically generated in situ by using a hydrogen peroxide precursor plus an oxidase enzyme e.g. glucose or alcohol as hydrogen precursors and respectively glucose oxidase or alcohol oxidase as the enzyme system.